Hi all, Does anyone know if Altera Quartus II (3.0+) will let me use a parallel port to USB adapter? I just got a new machine, in part so I could upgrade to 3.0 from 2.2 (and in part so everything would go faster), but it doesn't have a parallel port! I basically have three options: waste the only PCI slot in the machine for a parallel port card, use a USB adapter, or special-order a manufacturer-special parallel port interface for the machine with unknown lead time. The question is basically: does Quartus II rely on it being a serial port interface with the traditional I/O ports, or does it handle anything that can drive a printer? Shelling out $300 for the yet-not-in-existence USB-Blaster cable is not realistic, nor is $500 for MasterBlaster which doesn't even handle the active serial configuration devices. -hpa -- <hpa@transmeta.com> at work, <hpa@zytor.com> in private! If you send me mail in HTML format I will assume it's spam. "Unix gives you enough rope to shoot yourself in the foot." Architectures needed: ia64 m68k mips64 ppc ppc64 s390 s390x sh v850 x86-64
ByteBlaster with USB<->PP adapter?
Started by ●September 29, 2003
Reply by ●October 1, 20032003-10-01
I believe that it treats the port as a bit bashed parallel port and as such requires it to look exactly like a parallel port. so unless the USB <> parallel port has the same registers, it won't work. But this is just a belief. I would suggest you waste a PCI port.. but make sure that the parallel port card you buy can be returned if it doesn't work. Not all parallel ports are created equal. Simon "H. Peter Anvin" <hpa@zytor.com> wrote in message news:blakq0$nm$1@cesium.transmeta.com...> Hi all, > > Does anyone know if Altera Quartus II (3.0+) will let me use a > parallel port to USB adapter? I just got a new machine, in part so I > could upgrade to 3.0 from 2.2 (and in part so everything would go > faster), but it doesn't have a parallel port! I basically have three > options: waste the only PCI slot in the machine for a parallel port > card, use a USB adapter, or special-order a manufacturer-special > parallel port interface for the machine with unknown lead time. > > The question is basically: does Quartus II rely on it being a serial > port interface with the traditional I/O ports, or does it handle > anything that can drive a printer? > > Shelling out $300 for the yet-not-in-existence USB-Blaster cable is > not realistic, nor is $500 for MasterBlaster which doesn't even handle > the active serial configuration devices. > > -hpa > > -- > <hpa@transmeta.com> at work, <hpa@zytor.com> in private! > If you send me mail in HTML format I will assume it's spam. > "Unix gives you enough rope to shoot yourself in the foot." > Architectures needed: ia64 m68k mips64 ppc ppc64 s390 s390x sh v850 x86-64
Reply by ●October 1, 20032003-10-01
Peter, I asked the experts at Altera, and they verified that using a parallel port to USB adapter will not work. - Subroto Datta Altera Corp. "H. Peter Anvin" <hpa@zytor.com> wrote in message news:blakq0$nm$1@cesium.transmeta.com...> Hi all, > > Does anyone know if Altera Quartus II (3.0+) will let me use a > parallel port to USB adapter? I just got a new machine, in part so I > could upgrade to 3.0 from 2.2 (and in part so everything would go > faster), but it doesn't have a parallel port! I basically have three > options: waste the only PCI slot in the machine for a parallel port > card, use a USB adapter, or special-order a manufacturer-special > parallel port interface for the machine with unknown lead time. > > The question is basically: does Quartus II rely on it being a serial > port interface with the traditional I/O ports, or does it handle > anything that can drive a printer? > > Shelling out $300 for the yet-not-in-existence USB-Blaster cable is > not realistic, nor is $500 for MasterBlaster which doesn't even handle > the active serial configuration devices. > > -hpa > > -- > <hpa@transmeta.com> at work, <hpa@zytor.com> in private! > If you send me mail in HTML format I will assume it's spam. > "Unix gives you enough rope to shoot yourself in the foot." > Architectures needed: ia64 m68k mips64 ppc ppc64 s390 s390x sh v850 x86-64
Reply by ●October 2, 20032003-10-02
Followup to: <rvBeb.7724$JF5.5449@newssvr33.news.prodigy.com> By author: "Subroto Datta" <sdatta@altera.com> In newsgroup: comp.arch.fpga> > Peter, > > I asked the experts at Altera, and they verified that using a parallel > port to USB adapter will not work. >Thanks. I ended up finding a vendor which carried the proprietary parallel port interface (really just a special cable plugging into a nonstandard header on the motherboard -- had they used a standard header the problem would have been solved long ago) for this machine and could deliver it with a reasonable lead time; FedEx is supposed to deliver it today. A USB solution would have been nicer because of portability, of course. -hpa -- <hpa@transmeta.com> at work, <hpa@zytor.com> in private! If you send me mail in HTML format I will assume it's spam. "Unix gives you enough rope to shoot yourself in the foot." Architectures needed: ia64 m68k mips64 ppc ppc64 s390 s390x sh v850 x86-64